Manufacturing’s Hidden Cyber Threat: Unpatched OT Systems

This guest blog was contributed by Alex Yevtushenko, CEO at Salvador Tech

Netflix’s Zero Day series paints an alarming picture of a catastrophic cyberattack targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. While gripping as fiction, the phenomenon is disturbingly close to reality, especially for the manufacturing sector. As co-showrunner Eric Newman told Netflix, “We’ve got to do something to protect ourselves before a real zero-day event occurs.”

A whopping 80% of manufacturing companies still have critical vulnerabilities, and more than two-thirds have at least one vulnerability from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. In today’s evolving threat landscape, unpatched vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT) systems aren’t just technology issues; they’re national security concerns. 

Manufacturing’s Operational Risk

In 2024 over half of organizations experienced at least one security incident involving ICS/OT systems. Zero-Day attacks, or attacks that exploit a previously known vulnerability that has not yet been patched, are of particular concern. Despite the increase in risk, many manufacturing companies still avoid patching critical OT vulnerabilities, fearing operational downtime more than cyberattacks. Previously, this hesitance to patch OT systems was not a glaring issue because many ICS systems were designed for isolated environments. But the rapid digital transformation occurring in Industry 4.0 has combined OT and IT networks like never before. This connectivity has unlocked greater efficiency and visibility, but it’s also exposed critical infrastructure to the internet and new threats. OT systems are no longer safe in their isolated bubble, and using outdated, unpatched operating systems puts manufacturers in a dangerous position.

Decades-Old Systems, Modern-Day Threats

For years, manufacturers have relied on OT systems that are designed to last and have a much longer lifespan than IT systems. However, these systems weren’t built for the IoT world we now live in. Due to the convergence between IT and OT, many legacy systems are exposed in ways they were never meant to be. And because downtime or a halt in production can have significant financial consequences, applying patches is often seen as more of an operational risk than a priority investment. As a result, many companies delay patches until annual maintenance windows, leaving critical vulnerabilities exposed for months or even years. In 2024 alone, attacks on known vulnerabilities rose 54%. Even more concerning is that 56% of older vulnerabilities remain active targets today, and nearly one-third of critical vulnerabilities stay unpatched for more than 180 days. 

Patch Fatigue and the Expanding Attack Surface 

Attackers aren’t picking random victims; they’re targeting the manufacturers that haven’t kept pace with evolving cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals see unpatched OT systems as low-hanging fruit for attacks such as cyber espionage and ransomware. And as vulnerabilities and required patches continue to multiply, overwhelmed teams can suffer from “patch fatigue” and delay or skip updates, further widening the attack surface. It is clear that without proactive measures, unpatched vulnerabilities will continue to be a primary gateway for cyberattacks in 2025.

So, what’s the solution? A modernized Zero Trust Access (ZTA) strategy tailored to OT environments. 

The Path Forward: ZTA for OT Environments 

Rather than locking systems down, ZTA enables secure, continuous operations. Manufacturers don’t need to overhaul entire systems or risk downtime to stay patched. Instead, they should enact a top-down ZTA strategy that segments operations to prevent widespread infiltration by threat actors. The approach builds a strong security posture with real-time threat detection to spot and respond to exploits before they become disasters.

With the right strategy, patching doesn’t have to mean downtime; it can mean resilience.

The fictional crisis in Zero Day is a very real warning. If we don’t act now, the next major infrastructure attack won’t come from a Netflix series. It could come from a production line. Let’s close the patch gap, secure our operations with ZTA, and protect our supply chains before fiction becomes reality.